


First Contact

by tardiis



Series: Fusion [1]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Love at First Sight (sort of?), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:33:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tardiis/pseuds/tardiis
Summary: Venom knew Eddie before he ever met him.
Relationships: Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote
Series: Fusion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955806
Comments: 2
Kudos: 119





	First Contact

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [认知 First Contact](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26791189) by [EnAttendantKiwi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnAttendantKiwi/pseuds/EnAttendantKiwi). 



Venom thinks he’s the patient kind.

The moment he disappears into that human body he is acutely aware of it being an unsuitable host. He hovers around the female’s chest then slowly makes ways towards the brain. Vulnerable. Feeble bones, kidneys, livers- How long can these livers last? He observes the human organ called heart pumping just a bit too fast and kindly reduces its aggravated speed of contraction. Going through her mind, he does not sense as much terror as he did on the last one, even though she’s got all kinds of edgy thoughts up there making her mind on the verge of collapse.  
If he wants to, he can let this human die in an instant. No doubt it will save both him and the human behind the glass some time if he just jumps to the next one, but like he said, he’s the patient kind. Neither does he intend to drain his host so quickly nor does he feel rushed to find a feasible match. Coming to Earth may be a simple mission of conquest to Riot but Venom is much more willing to explore the process. This poor human is his temporary host now. He can at least postpone her inevitable death.  
At the end of his thought, Venom adjusts her adrenaline level pulling her mind back in place.

_Maria_ , He calls her.

* * *

Maria has lasted longer than he anticipated.

It is the fourth day of their bonding. In the past two days, his two companions have tried out a round of hosts already and through Maria’s eyes Venom watched the bodily effort being made by the human hosts before they died. One of them was gone quietly but the other struggled a bit more with limbs twitching and life ending in a puddle of body fluid and dried blood. The white coats on the outside blocked the screaming but that man’s spasming face was enough proof of what could be called a very unpleasant death experience.

Curling up in a corner of her observation room, Maria gazes emptily at the symbiote exiting the dead man’s body through his arm taking the form of a black writhing web of tendrils like blood vessels. She closes her eyes, resting her head on her knees as two new clueless subjects are brought into the rooms after the cold bodies were taken out like trash.

**Don’t want to face the death of your own kind?**

Emotions pile up inside his host’s mind though no words are said. She feels weak and this curled-up position is her way of saving every last ounce of strength she still possesses at this point. She sways back and forth before she murmurs flatly, “Which one will I be then? Left, or right?”

**You are saying again. You could’ve answered in your mind.**

His host laughs.  
[Does it matter?] She is a quick learner. Her voice is even stronger for not having to cough up an actual sound. [It’s not like they care about who I’m talking to.]

**They may think you are crazy.**

[And they could be right.]

**You think you invented me in your head?**

“No one can tell me I didn’t.” She shrugs. Venom decides to not remind her again.

**That would be an insult to me, Maria.**

[I’m the one who is about to die because of you. And you want to talk about insults?]

**Your death is not on me, Maria. Your kind did this to you. And if they could just give me another host I wouldn’t have wasted my time on you. I knew we weren’t a match. But their order is to confirm your death before they send in the next one.**

The woman gives a harsh laugh.  
[Should I say thank you or tell you what you just said is another insult.]

**You mean I said I wouldn’t have wasted my time on you? That’s not an insult. It’s a fact.**

In that moment, Venom happens to catch a glimpse of something passing through Maria’s mind. He failed to catch it but he’s sure it was something soft, memory related, with a bit of warm color.

[Answer my previous question,] She says. The new test subjects have been left alone in the observation rooms. [Left, or right?]

**I can make your death least painful, even senseless, if you want.**

“Friendly, aren’t you.”

**I have patience,** Venom corrects her. **I don’t mind wasting a little time on you.**

Maria moves her gaze away seemingly in her thoughts. The warm color passed through her mind again but this time it stayed a bit longer. Venom saw it.  
He saw a man in a hoodie, bearded. In this memory Maria’s mood was bright. That man stopped on the street, exchanged a few words with Maria, and took away a piece of newspaper from her hand.

This is not the first time Venom has seen this man in her memory. Eddie Brock, a down-and-out ex reporter, a good person. Memories of him always feel warm and pleasant but what Venom doesn’t understand is why their conversation at this moment reminded her of Brock.

[Maybe I _am_ lucky, come to think of it.] His host’s thoughts tenderly brushing against his.

Venom mentally reminds himself to ask more about that reporter later before he answers her.  
 **It’s unusual for a dying person to think that way.**

Maria lightens up suddenly. Venom notices the bright area in her brain is expanding. She slightly sways again and this time she even hums a bit.  
“But I don’t want you to take away my senses, Venom. I want to feel my death.”

**Another unusual thought. Is this a habit thing for humans?**

Maria laughs out loud and nods to herself, hand reaching for the glass. “Habit. I guess you can call it that. My life is ending and I can see it. My life- my whole life is a habit.”

**If I weren’t in your head right now I would think you’d gone crazy.**

“No, no, you see- I am trying to sum up my life. Like what a priest does. It’s just I don’t have religion and there’s no priest here,” Maria says even more loudly, reminding Venom of a piece of information he obtained about human’s death, about how it is said that life flashes before their eyes right before they die. He quickly checks her internal organs; they look promising for at least a few more days.

“As for my conclusion goes, I have had this odd luck my entire life,” Maria says.

**Drake will hear you in this volume.**

“Like that bastard would even care!” Maria roars.

**And what you were saying?**

[For a creature who just landed on Earth not long ago, you do know how to change the subject.]

**I’m simply curious about my host’s dying speech.**

Maria smiles, and a similar memory passes through her mind. This time Venom quietly waits.

“You are in my head so you should’ve known my stories.” She presses a finger on the glass. “Never seen my father. Mother was a drunk and an insane Christian. Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any worse, I met Jeremy in a bar and-” She draws a line. “-he’s the nicest kind you could find where I grew up, no drags, drink occasionally, steady income. I gave my everything to him so eagerly. I thought- you see, I thought life had finally given me back something. Even if I grew up with a bunch of drug addicts, I could still get a nicer life for myself.” She smiles at the glass. “I had hope.”

**He left you. Every memory of him is grey.**

“That didn’t happen till later. At least we were happy before Larry was born. But then I found out he was a liar just like my father, and worse, a user who hid heroin in places children could find,” she replies. “So what happened next was I left him. Venom, I left him.”

**You left him.**

“Yes, it’s the second time I thought my life had hit rock bottom. But again, I was given hope. I had Larry. He was my gift. I was going to give him a different life.”

**Venom senses the corresponding pieces of memories surfacing, but this time he decides to shut up about it.**

“Just like you know, Larry met his father when he’s thirteen and he was lied to by that filthy old bastard. I warned him. I warned him not to get too close! That bastard needed money so he used his son. He got him into using. Larry thought his dad was cool so he hung around with that bunch of people-” Her knuckles are pale and her fingers slip through the glass when another piece of memory strikes her down.  
“And he died.”

Venom makes no sound. Her son died in a bar shooting. He follows Maria’s memory into a valley, into a police station, into a morgue to identify the body. This piece of carefully guarded memory is utterly painful and presents itself in a reddish black color.

[I lost the will to live. You see, I had a job at a restaurant, but when I finally found and confronted my ex husband, he pushed me down the stairs over an argument. I lost my leg, my job, my home, and the next thing I know, I was living on the street.]

[By that time I didn’t even care anymore. I knew I could find another job if I wanted to, but I just didn’t see the point of trying. Begging was not as hard as I thought it’d be. If an asshole like my ex husband can live in this world without anything bad happening to him, then why can’t I- and I don’t care what others call me, a tumor of the society or whatever- so why can’t I choose to live my life this way?]

She bursts out a few brief cries, leaning on the fogged glass. Venom waits for her mood to slowly recover. Finally, he sees the warm color he’s been waiting for.

“That was the third time. My hope was shattered by the man who gave it to me. The third time I thought things weren’t getting any better ever again.” She gazes away. “Until-”

_Eddie Broke_ , Venom says.

Maria smiles, eyes turning a bit cheerful through the glass. “That reporter.”

She stopped talking and Venom saw her memory.

A man is walking on the street.   
He can see that I still have working capacity and what I do is basically conning people, but he still stops in front of me.   
He asks how my day was going.

“Very bad sir, but if you give me a dollar, you could just make my day”, I say.   
He laughs. “I guessed so,” he admits. “And that’s why I won’t give you a dollar.” He takes out his wallet. “I will give you five, how about that?”

I say to him, “I think I know how you lost your job, sir.”   
He stands still looking curious. “Do you know me?” he asks.   
“You are that reporter on TV.” I point to a TV hanging inside a restaurant. “The one that got fired.”

He scratches his head. “Yes, you are quite right.”   
“I used to like watching your show,” I say.   
“Yeah?”   
“Yeah, and I dare to say that I’m your biggest fan. How about that? Does that worth me five more dollars?”   
This time he laughs.

“No, and I will have to take my five dollars back-” he says while looking at me, “-and treat you to a meal instead. Where did you see my show? Let’s go to that restaurant. How does that sound?”

[He’s an idiot,] Maria says.

**Yes. Your memory of him has a twenty-dollar bill attached to it.**

Maria can’t stop laughing. “Yes,” she admits. “Yes.”

**He is not your family.**

[No, of course not.]

**But the color of him is warm.**

[What?]

**I am in your head, Maria. Just like I can see your memories, I can also see how you feel about another person.**

[Well, I guess so. Eddie is… something else. He is a good person.]

**A good person.**

[Yes.]

**But if it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t be here.** Venom sounds certain.

What is in front of him is the memory of the day Maria was brought to the Life Foundation.  
She has been spying on those people for a while now. Well-trained, or at least they seem to be. Every time they show up in the district they talk to people and take them away. She has been living on the street long enough to know this ain’t a good sign.

Maria doesn’t think she has the responsibility to warn those greedy morons. Life is cruel. A single misjudgement can be fatal. She knows how to keep a distance and fully intends to not break her own rules.

She _would_ keep her distance, if she didn’t happen to hear that conversation.

On that day, Maria saw that van in the corner of the street and a young man who’s about to get inside. A tattooed guy was guarding the van and the logo on there seemed somewhat familiar to her. She noticed the guy stopping the young man before asking casually, “Hey, you, do you have any friend who also wants this job?”

The young man hesitated. “I- I don’t know, sir-”

“If you do know someone, a bonus can be arranged for you,” the tattooed guy said.

“Sir! I think I know someone!” a voice came from the van.

“Can you ask your friend to come here right now?” The tattooed guy nodded.

“Uh, I can’t say I really know him? But I think he would want this job. I know him. I know he was a reporter. Got fired. Couldn’t find a job anywhere. Sir, he’d definitely want this job.”

The tattooed guy stopped his movement. “A fired reporter?”

“I don’t remember his name but I know where he lives! I can take you there right now sir. He usually stays at home at this hour.”

Maria recognized that logo on the van. It’s that company Eddied pointed to her once, joking about how they got him fired.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she took a few steps forward and stopped in front of the van before that young man could get off and lead the way.

“Sorry, I heard you are short of one person?” She looked at the guard. “No need to find someone else then, I want to take the job.”

**If you knew what the job was, would you still take it?**

[This question has no meaning, Venom,] Maria comments. [But I don’t know. Honestly? The job could’ve been worse, but I took it anyway.]

**Why? Twenty dollars isn't worth your life.**

Maria laughs again. [It’s not about the money he gave me. I just think he’s worth it. Besides, I think he’d do the same for me.]

Venom revisits her memory of Eddie Brock and a strangeness gathers inside him.

Why Eddie Brock? He thinks. Why the warm color?

There is a familiarness around this person even though he can only gather so much inside Maria’s head and he seems to be wanting-

[And there you go. The fourth time fate has put me down. Until you showed up.]

Venom is taken aback.

**Me?**

[My life started as a mess. I had hope with Jeremy until he took it away. Then I had Larry and that hope was taken away too. And then I met Eddie, he’s my new hope, and of course, this time I gave up my life for him willingly.]

[You see the odd cycle, Venom. That’s why I said my life is a single habit. I had a silver lining every step of the way until it turned against me, leaving me in despair- No, not despair, another silver lining.]

**I can see that, but I don’t see the connection with me.**

Maria smiles.

“Because you are my fourth hope.”

**I _am_ killing you.**

“Better than those two.” She points at the glass. “I’ve never seen them talking to themselves so I’m guessing you are the only one who talks to your host. And that got me thinking you are different. Maybe you can truly understand human emotions. Maybe you can understand me.”

**That does not mean you won’t die.**

“You reminded me of Eddie.”

**What?**

“Weird, huh? But it’s true. Sometimes he talks to me this way, like we are fighting, but I do know he cares about me.”  
“With you inside my head- Sometimes, you reminded me of him.”

“I wouldn’t say you two are alike, but I noticed some similarities.”

**I am not like a human.**

She laughs. “Oh, Venom, only if you’d meet him one day.”

Venom remains silent for a while.

**Before, when you were thinking about Eddie Brock, I had a hunch.**

[What?]

**A hunch. I couldn’t make sense of it. But now. Since you’ve said it. Do you think he’d be my match?**

[Seriously? Venom, I am taking back everything I just said. I don’t want him to ever meet you.]

**If he is my match, he won’t die because of me. I’ll only make him stronger.**

Maria raises her eyebrows.

**I’ll make _us_ stronger.**

[That’s interesting. You never used the word ‘us’ on me.]

**Because I knew we weren’t a match.**

Maria buries herself in deep thoughts.

[If you do meet him one day, then I guess I won’t be there to stop you from bonding with him.]

**You will be dead then.**

[Venom, remember what you said about not going to waste your time on a failing host?]

**I remember.**

Maria huffs a sigh.  
[Then I hope you can promise me that if you ever bond with him and if he is not a match for you, you will leave him immediately and he won’t die because of you.]

**As long as we are outside this room, I promise.**

Maria looks around and smiles.  
[Then I guess my final job is to get out of here.]

* * *

There shouldn’t be anyone here at this hour.

The Life Foundation doesn’t operate at night. Venom hears the footsteps in the corridor and a beeping sound of the laboratory door being opened.

**Someone is here.**

Footsteps approaching but not the usual rhythm. Just one person, so it can’t be the next host being brought in for tests. Venom tries to raise Maria’s head to see who is coming, but she is too weak to generate any responses.

Footsteps and a clipping sound. He searches in her memory and realizes it might be the camera shutter.

Camera shutter. Researchers don’t take pictures. It’s an intruder.

**Intruder!**

Venom adjusts Maria’s body as much as possible.

**Our chance!**

His host slowly responds to his call. Raising her head is difficult to do. When they finally adjusted her head to a horizontal level, the intruder was already in front of their observation room with his back facing them. One look at him and Maria trembles incredibly.

No, not just Maria, Venom’s thoughts resonate perfectly with hers.

_Eddie Brock._

Venom senses her unspoken worries. Why is he here? It’s too dangerous. Was he caught? What’s he doing? Eddie! Can he rescue us?

Maria tries to slide forward a bit but only falls to the ground.

**You are too weak. Give me control and we might have a chance.**

[No, not we.]

**Maria?**

[You, Venom. I am dying. I can feel it. If you take the control right now, I will never be able to take it back.] She stares at the floor. [Remember what you promised?]

**If Eddie is not my match, I will leave him immediately and go find others.**

[Good.]

His host raises her head once more. He feels her voice disappearing inside her body.

[Do what you have to do, Venom.]

* * *

Venom supports this inactive body, slams against the glass, and shouts out that name one last time with her voice.

“Eddie!”


End file.
